Frozen Kiss
by soraxtsuna123
Summary: Sequel to Swap Kiss. Shawn left to go to college, leaving Ponyboy alone. He thought he was the only gay in school until he met a boy who he is partnered up with for a project and keeps flirting with him. But Ponyboy isn't ready for another relationship just yet. BoyxBoy. Ponyboy/male!Oc (OMC)
1. Chapter 1

It was the hottest day of the summer. The sun beat down on my slightly tanned skin and my beads of sweat were like rainfalls. I shaded my eyes and squinted forward. It seemed like the cracked sidewalk was slithering around. I swallowed saliva to sooth my dry throat and licked my lips with my dry tongue. I could just manage to see the silhouette of the old playground that was put up years ago.

My stomach turned in nervousness. I wondered the whole walk there what my boyfriend, Shawn wanted to talk about. He sounded nervous on the phone. I could think of a few reasons why he was like this—almost all of them were not good.

Shawn was sitting on top of the monkey bars. His lips were pressed tightly together and his knuckles were white. I pulled myself up next to him and grabbed his hands to give it some color. "What's wrong?" I asked with concern.

"I don't know how to say it," Shawn said. He looked like he was going to be sick.

"You know that you can tell me everything."

"I know! I just… I just don't want to say this particular thing."

I gripped his hands tighter. "What is it, Shawn?"

For a long time, he just sat there in an uncomfortable silence, thinking about what he was going to say. Even though it was really hot and I wanted to desperately move to the shade, I sat there and waited. What felt like hours was only a couple of minutes. Shawn opened his mouth, letting out choked air like he was struggling to form his words. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

"You know that I'm moving onto college, right?"

I nodded slowly. "With a scholarship." I already knew what was going to happen. I didn't want to believe it.

"I just think that with me going to a far-away college, I mean, not that I didn't want to be closer, but with all of my work and I don't want—"

I held up my hand to stop him, eyes stinging with tears hat I refused to let spill. "Are you saying that you want to break up with me?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I want to be with you but it would be hard to keep up a long distance relationship."

"I understand," I said as I gave him a small smile to hide away any sadness.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I wasn't really but I wasn't about to say so. I didn't want him to go. I wanted to stay with him forever but that was just a farfetched fantasy. It was going to happen anyways. Besides, it's better this way. I knew how much this scholarship meant to him. We have to break up. "You have to go or else all that work with improving your grade would have been for nothing." I wish I haven't helped him, at least then he wouldn't be leaving, but in the same time I was glad because we wouldn't have had the relationship we had.

Shawn pulled me in the tightest hug that he could while remaining balance He pressed his forehead to mine, nose touching. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Shawn left soon after and I stayed behind for a bit longer. Now what? I thought about my past, present, and future and how a lot of points that stuck out circled around Shawn. Everything felt off. Until now, I didn't realize how I tied my life with his to make his life my own. I thought everything was the same as it was, with a little bit more perks, before Shawn. I had been more or less neglecting the gang because of how caught up I was.

When I got home, it was awkward. How was I supposed to react? Nothing changed from when I left them. I just didn't know how to react to these things anymore.

I made my way through the gang to my room without saying a word and lied down on my bed, burrowing my head in a pillow and cried, everything catching up to me. It was after I stopped crying when the door opened and Johnny walked inside, giving me a curious stare after looking into my red eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

"I don't know what to do," I answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Shawn broke up with me."

"Golly, Ponyboy, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

Johnny was expecting me to look at him with a look that shouts out, 'Do I look like I'm okay?' but I surprised him by answering, "I think so."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm just lost. I don't know how easily I'll adjust to a new life."

"Not a new life, man. It's an old life that you're already used to."

I let out a breath that was a makeshift laugh. I think I'll be alright.

 **o-o-o**

Summer break went by way too quickly. I wasn't excited to return to the hellhole but at least everything had died down. The drama was still brimming the cup but the news of me being gay was long passed. They all moved onto new topics. No one even gave me a second look. Sure, I am still treated harshly for my sexuality but that was to be expected since society hasn't exactly opened up on the idea of gay marriage or rights.

Right now, though, even though I have my friends walking next to me, I felt alone. With Shawn, I knew that I wasn't the only one who liked guys in the school. Now, I'm not only one that came out of the closet in the school. There were probably a handful of guys and broads who are still hiding but for right now, I am alone on the battlefield.

I sat myself down at my first period classroom in a spot where the teacher wouldn't look at quite as often and behind enough layers of students as well have a perfect angle of the board and an easy access to the door. The class quickly filled in and soon the teacher walked to the front of the room to introduce the course.

The class dragged on without any trouble besides the idiots in the class that kept interrupting the teacher and sprouting banter and jokes. The teacher rolled her eyes each time and disregarded the flirts who kept whispering how she would be a 'sex pot'. Finally, after many crude jokes, she counted everyone off into pairs to "better know each other". I mean, it was fine and all, but I was probably going to end up with an asshole with my rotten luck.

The teacher looked at me with a slight smile before giving me a number and moving on. Once every number was distributed, the quiet classroom turned into an uproar of numbers being called out. Through all of that noise, I faintly heard my number and moved around towards the voice.

I walked up to a guy around my size with brown hair that was parted so that the longer hairs would wrap around the top of his head and the short hairs would just grow straight down. He had eyes that were as light as the Caribbean Sea. He smiled at me, skin folding around his pink lips.

"Hello, I'm Barry."

I almost sighed in relief. He looks like he was actually friendly. "I'm Ponyboy."

"You're the one who came out last year, right?"

My body tensed up. "Yeah."

He smiled again, "That was far out."

Again I relaxed. "Thanks, man. What do we have to do in our assignment anyways?"

"I'm glad you asked," the teacher piped up as if she was waiting for someone to ask that particular question to start the assignment. "Now that you've introduced yourselves, please move to the lab tables in the side of the room. There lies your instructions for the project. This project is due in the end of the year. I expect you to present your projects in the end of the year in front of the class as well as in the science fair."

The class groaned but got back up to go to the lab tables. Barry and I swooped to one and looked at the sheet.

"So our project is to create a model that involves a combination of physics, mathematics, and chemistry," I started blankly.

"Already? But we didn't learn anything in this class yet."

Barry shrugged. "So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. What do you think?"

"I'm fine with whatever you want to do."

I let out a small, fake chuckle. "This is problematic."

Everything got awkward after that. I stared at the empty draft sheet. Some groups around us were already drawing their plans down.

"So," Barry started, "How are you with what's-his-face?"

"Shawn? We're no longer together."

"Oh, I'm sorry." If I didn't know better, I could hear his tone a bit on the happy side. It was probably because he didn't care though and was just trying to start a conversation.

"What career do you want?" I asked, helping continue the conversation.

"I'm really interested into space. Maybe I'll be an astronomer or a rocket scientist or an engineer or something."

"Space, huh?"

"Yeah, what about you?"

"I don't know yet." Then it hit me. "I know the perfect idea for our project!"

"What is it?"

"We can build a rocket."

 **o-o-o**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders.**


	2. Chapter 2

Building a rocket proved to be much harder than what Homer Hickam made it seem. Barry was tapping the desk with his pencil, examining the scribbles on the graphing paper. The teacher was kind enough to gather most of the materials for the first tryout—it was going to take hundreds of tries to get it right. We didn't want it to fail, but, for that, we would have to build it to the exact proportions and use the right fuel which we don't know how to make yet. Finding a testing place would be difficult too. But the current problem was finding the exact measurements to each piece.

I scratched at my greasy hair. I wish I suggested something easier. There was no turning back now. I took the sheet from Barry to examine it closer. I shivered, feeling someone watch me. I turned to Barry who was looking away in another direction before turning back to the sheet. Instantly, I felt like I was being watched again. From the corners of my eyes, I saw Barry staring at me. I whipped my head towards him and he tried to turn away. "Why are you staring at me?" I asked, irritable because of the stress and sleepless nights.

He blushed. "I just…" he started but shut his mouth.

"Do I have something on my face?"

"No! I was just… examining your face as you worked. It's quite entertaining to see all of the emotions go through."

I raised an eyebrow, frowning. "Right… Well, this project isn't going to finish itself."

Barry winced. "Yeah, sorry. Let's get back on it."

I felt bad about being mean. Barry is really sweet but I just didn't want to deal with more than I had to. I didn't want to look at him and think about Shawn. I wrote some more notes down. "What do you think we should make the rocket out of?"

 **o-o-o**

It was late when I left the school, having to run extra laps for being late to the track conditioning. I was sweating a mighty storm as I walked through the humid heat of dawn, going through memories with Shawn. My stomach turned. I still loved him even though he hurt me in more ways that I didn't plan on feeling. I wished he was here still. My eyes stung and it felt like my heart was being crushed by a hand.

A rusty car passed by. I watched it go up the street some more before its break lights turned on and it back up to drive next to me. The driver reached over to cranked opened the window. I walked faster but he drove a bit faster to catch up with me. "Hey, kid, get in."

Chills ran up my spine. Alarms were blaring in my head. "I'm not getting into the car of some random guy," I rejected, now in a light jog.

"Oh, come on, man! Let me give you a lift home."

"No. Go away." I was just about to make a bolt to my house.

"Do you want me to come out there and fucking drag you into this car?" His tone sharpened.

"That's alright. I'm almost home anyways." I was practically running now. The car parked in front of me and the driver side door opened.

I tried to run past it but I was grabbed and hugged to his body. He covered my mouth. "Don't scream," he hissed, dragging me to the driver's door and pushed me in, forcing me to scoot over. He locked the door and stared straight at me. "You're the youngest Curtis, right?"

"How do you know me?" I asked, scooting away slowly, shaking.

"I've seen you around." He started up the car. I glanced at the lock. I just need one quick movement and I can roll out of the car but before I could do that, he grabbed me, pulling me by his side. I struggled again, trying to rip myself from his grip. "Would you stop struggling? I'm just taking you to your house!"

"If you were trying to take me to my house, why did you kidnap me? Stop the car and let me out."

"No!"

"Why not?"

The car halted and he spun towards me, gripping me tightly. His hazel eyes stared deeply into mine, trying to pry into every little secret I had. He frowned. I stared back sternly, trying to hide all fear that I had. He ran his hand through his ash-blond hair and went back to driving. I tensed when he reached inside his pocket and pulled out a pack of cancer sticks.

"Want one?" I haven't had a cigarette since I started to go out with Shawn. He always made me feel high and giddy whenever I'm with him, I've never really needed one. Taking one was tempting right now but I shook my head. He took one out for himself, taking his hand off the wheel for a second to light it. Afterwards, he stuck it in his mouth and cranked opened his window. With one hand, he would occasionally take the cigar out to puff out smoke before sticking it back in.

While he was distracted, I looked for more ways to escape but the only way was to roll out of the car. I would do it but with more looking around, I noticed that my kidnapper had a weapon near his feet and in easy reach. I couldn't do anything.

I glanced out of the window to see familiar houses passing by. Soon enough, the car stopped in front of my house. I relaxed and looked back at him as he blew out some more smoke from the stub. "We're here." The doors were unlocked.

I graciously opened the door, giving him a pointed look. I was relieved that the car ride was over and nothing happened. "Thanks," I said awkwardly, putting a foot out of the car.

"Call me Danny."

I nodded, not bothering to give him my name. "Alright, Danny."

I turned around to leave but was stopped by his voice, "What about my favor?"

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I get a favor for bringing you back home."

"I didn't want you to do so. You practically kidnapped me."

"But I did bring you home safely."

"How about you do me a favor for coming with you as peacefully as I did?"

He smirked. "Depends on what it is."

"Don't approach me again."

He frowned and I let a ghost of a smile cross my lips. I got out of the car and closed the door. Danny reached over and cranked open the window. "You know that I'm not going to do that."

I turned back, the small smile dropping. It wasn't because of the possibility of him stalking me as much as another reason. I frowned because, for a moment, I saw Shawn behind the wheel.

 **o-o-o**

 ***Starts a harem* Just kidding. He was the last new guy. Danny is going to bring the drama in this story in the beginning.**

 **Replies:**

 _ **PercyboyCade**_ **: Haha, how about Barryboy? Rocket duo? Idk. xD But yeah, they do.**

 _ **Guest**_ **: Yay. Thank you for reading. :D**

 _ **Blue eyed titan99**_ **: Thank you! Do you like the new character?**

 _ **LOK**_ **: Spoiler alert! Shawn will be coming back and it will be up to you readers who Ponyboy ends up with but that's in the end. I'm trying to get everyone to know the new characters before instantly voting for Shawn. Spoiler end! Ponyboy will be naïve throughout this whole fanfic to the point of him irritating readers but it will only make the future chapters a lot cuter and make more drama.**

 _ **White collar black wolf**_ **: Thank you. I hope this chapter was to your liking.**


	3. Chapter 3

Barry and I were inside the forging class, merging pieces of scrap metal together. Since Barry was in the class, he knew how all the equipment worked and the teacher trusted him enough to let us use it during his free period. I was certain that this model wouldn't work because of all the ragged edges. I just didn't know how we were going to fix that problem. Sparks flew on the protective mask I was wearing as I watched Barry mend the last piece of metal onto the rocket.

He pulled off his mask, flashing a huge smile. "I guess that I was too hot for the rocket."

I chuckled. "Must have been. You melted its shell."

"Am I too hot for you? Do I melt you?"

"You wish. Let's get the fuel from our teacher and test it out."

We left the classroom after we cleaned up the equipment and thanked the teacher. Barry opened his mouth again on our way back to our classroom. "Can I ask you a relationship question?" he asked, fiddling with the hall pass. His cheeks were pinker than normal.

"Sure, but I might not be good at giving advice about girls."

"It's fine." Barry took a shaky breath. "Lately, I've been falling for someone. I talk to them often now but they don't seem to notice any approach that I take. What do you think I should do?"

I thought about his problem, but I really haven't been in his situation. "I honestly don't know what to tell you, Barry. I haven't really been in that situation. My advice is very clichéd: Just tell them. Get it over with before you fall deeper in love with them. It will hurt a lot less if that fifty percent happens and they reject you but it leaves a lot more room if they accept."

Barry gave me a small smile. "Thanks."

We reached the classroom and went to the teacher's desk to drop off the pass and get the gasoline that was stored.

"Can we fill the rocket with gasoline now?" I asked.

The teacher smiled and grabbed the canteen that was sitting under her desk. "Be careful. This is quite flammable. Don't light it at school. Wait until you are allowed to leave the campus and remember to hide behind something just in case."

We agreed and walked back to our lab table and opened the bottom and poured down the liquid, crinkling our noses at the smell.

"Where do you want to test it?" I asked.

"Do you want to do it at my house? I have a backyard that might be big enough."

"Alright." I took out a notebook so that he could write down his address. "I'll come by your house later today. Do you want to take the rocket with you?"

"Sure. I'll see you then." His smile glowed even brighter with excitement.

 **o-o-o**

After school, I was walking back home to drop off my bags before I would get a ride from Two-Bit or somebody in the gang to his house. I was about half way there when a familiar rusty car pulled up next to me.

"Need a ride?" Danny asked.

"I thought I told you not to come near me again," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Do I look like a person who would listen?"

"Not at all."

"Get in the car."

"I'm not about to get in your car again."

"You don't trust me?"

"Not at all." He sort of scares me.

"Just get in the car."

I don't know what brought me to do it—maybe it was because I saw Shawn where he sat—but I climbed in next to him. Even if I didn't climb in, I had a feeling that the results would be the same as last time if I run.

"So, are you going home?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm going somewhere after that."

"Where? I could drive you."

"I was going to have Two-Bit drive me." I was practically pressing against the door so that I wouldn't be right next to him.

"I'm being kind enough to go out of my way for you."

"Why? Why did you do this again?"

"I like you, kid. There's something about you…" Danny trailed off.

The car grew silent for a long moment before he stopped in front of my house.

"So, am I dropping you off?" he asked.

I didn't want him too. Every second that passes, the feeling that he was Shawn grew. "That's okay, Two-Bit is going to take me."

Danny looked around. "Nobody's here. Looks like I am. Go drop off your stuff, kid."

With a sigh, I got out of the car to throw my bag by the door and leave a note to tell my brothers where I will be. Danny was waiting outside for me. I got in the car and Danny drove off.

"Tell me where to go," he said.

"Okay. Just follow this road for a bit," I instructed.

"Where are you going?"

"To a classmate's house to test out our rocket. Turn left."

Danny turned the car. Fortunately, we didn't hold much of a conversation. Danny frowned and glared when we reached the house and saw Barry walk outside to greet me.

"Thanks for a ride," I said and got out of the car to enter the house. He led me to his backyard where he had already set up a launching area and some boards that stuck out of the ground for us to hide behind. A thin piece of rope connected to the bottom of the rocket to light it.

Barry and I hid behind the boards, giving each other a quick nod. He took out a lighter and lit the rope, watching the flame get closer to the rocket. We didn't bother to count down because we didn't know how long it would take to reach the rocket. I wanted to look but if anything bad happened, I could get badly injured.

It wasn't very long until the fire reached the rocket. One moment, there was silence, and then the next the whole back yard lit up and I could feel the heat of fire singe my hair. The rocket emitted the sound of a screaming rabbit. Metal from the rocket flew everywhere, embedding themselves in the board and the one tree in the backyard.

Once everything felt back to normal, we peeked over the boards. The grass around the rocket was burnt black and shards were scattered all over, steaming from the explosion. "It could have been worse," Barry said. "What do you think was the problem?"

"The fuel. We also have to change the form of the rocket so that there won't be resistant as it rips through the atmosphere—like a bullet."

"Yeah, and maybe a more durable metal. We really should have just done a water rocket."

"What fuel should we use?"

"I don't know. I suppose we could make it from scratch. We do know how most of the elements reacts. It's just finding a compound that works."

I looked up at the sky, surprised at how late it was. I should head back home soon or else Darry will get on my case. Barry and I began to clean up the mess, careful not to cut ourselves. I was cleaning near the burnt grass when a thought crossed my mind. "What would your parents think about this?" I motioned my hand to the grass.

Barry shrugged. "My parents would only be upset for a short amount of time. It's just grass. It's easily replicable."

I dropped more shards in the tin trashcan before going to help Barry move the boards back into the garage.

"Who was that guy who dropped you off?" he asked, a bit tense.

"This guy who keeps offering me a ride everywhere."

"What? Do you know him?"

"Not really."

"And yet you trust him enough to ride in his car?"

"I don't. Truthfully… Danny scares me."

"Then, why?"

We dropped the last piece of wood. "The first time we met, he threw me in his car so that he could drive me home. I wasn't even close to escaping. What makes any other time different. There would be the same results."

"Have you told anyone about him? Your family or the police?" I shook my head. "I think you should. He's obviously trouble."

I nodded. "You're right." Since everything was cleaned up, we started to head back to the front where a familiar car was waiting. Barry and I both froze. Danny was leaning against the side of his car, cigarette poking out of his mouth. He looked up, smirking when he saw me. I shivered.

Danny leaned in closer to me. "Do you want to call the police to come take you home or someone else you know?" he whispered. Danny frowned at Barry, glaring. It felt like something about him changed.

Should I call someone? I probably should. The police would be the best option but I couldn't just be dropped off at my house by the police. Both options both have the ending of me not having any freedom. But still, it would be better than riding with Danny.

"Yeah, I'll call someone. Let me just tell Danny to leave."

"Be careful."

I warily approached Danny. Each step felt like I was closer to death because of the murderous aura that was radiating from him. My knees felt week and my sweat felt hot against my skin. "Hey," I greeted, voice wavering a bit too much to my liking.

"Hey."

"How long have you been there?"

"I didn't know how long you were going to be here, so I waited."

"This whole time…"

"Yeah, let's book this place."

"Actually, I came to the front to wait for one of the gang to come pick me up. They should be arriving any minute now," I lied, crossing my fingers that he wouldn't catch me, but my luck had run out.

"Don't tell me shit." I flinched at his words. Crap, crap, crap. "I know you didn't call anyone. Get in the fucking car."

"No! I won't get in your car. I can stay here until someone picks me up."

He looked at me with eyes that were practically screaming: you're-really-going-to-do-that. "That your project partner? Cute guy. It would be a shame if something bad happens to him." My body and mind froze. My heart was beating faster than it does when I was with Shawn. I had to go with him. I couldn't let Barry get hurt because of me. Danny smirked, knowing he had won. "Get in the car."

I looked back at Barry, flipping my hands in the air for a second before letting them fall to my sides. "Barry, I'm going home with him."

Barry stared at me with shock. "Ponyboy, you can't be serious!"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry." I promised. I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep it. Barry gave me a pointed look but slowly nodded.

Danny and I entered the car and soon the house disappeared. I could still feel Danny's bloodlust and prayed that I would make it home safely.

Danny stepped on the breaks all of a sudden, swerving to the side of the road. He locked the doors and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, pulling me closer to him. His cigarette-breath brushed against my face. Instinctively, I grabbed his wrists and tried to pry his hands off of me but he only tightened his grip.

"I don't want you to ever lie to me again. I don't want you to see that kid," Danny snapped.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "What?" I asked, trying my best to struggle out of his stolid grip.

"You heard me. I know you, kid. I know you more than you know yourself. I know about that Soc you dated and I know that something was odd about you two. I've been watching you. You would stay away from that kid if you knew what was best for you." My eyes were wider than saucers. I let go of his arm to reach behind me for Shawn's hand but only grabbed air. My body was shaking a storm and I wanted a savior. I wanted Shawn to save me but he wouldn't. He never will again.

Danny let go of my collar to grab my forearms and pulled me even closer to him. He leaned in next to my ear and whispered, "Don't tell anyone what happened here. You're mine. I know you wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, so do everything I say."

I shut my eyes tightly. Help me. Someone, please save me.

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 ** _LOK:_** **No, he's not his brother. Ponyboy sees him as really similar in the beginning though. Of course, that changed after this chapter. I didn't edit this chapter. I hope it turned out alright. I tried to fix everything I caught as I wrote, but I type really fast so some might have escaped me.**

 ** _BunnyLuvsU_** **: Well, now you know. It will only get worse for Ponyboy with him around. Thank you for reading this :D**

 ** _Blue eyed titan99_** **: Here's the next chapter. Thank you for reading. Hopefully it came out fine.**

 ** _White collar black wolf:_** **Thank you for reading this as well as future chapters. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

The next school day went by as it usually did. Nothing visibly change. Atmospheric-wise, though, was different. No one felt the timid fear that I felt. No one knew what was going on with me.

 _He's watching me._ I closed my locker as Barry popped up next to me.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked me.

 _He's watching. He's always watching._ I stiffly nodded. He didn't buy it and frowned but didn't push more questions onto me.

"Hey. Listen, so I was needing to tell you something."

I cut him off. "I actually have to go to my next class right now. Sorry." I ducked my head and retreated to my next class. _I can't tell anyone._

As the class I shared with Barry rolled around, I could feel my anxiety going up. I couldn't avoid Barry like I was instructed but maybe I could still talk to him without Danny finding out, if he is watching me like he said. The class is on the top floor, preventing him from seeing me through the windows and the school is watching for any intruders. Danny isn't a student so going through the school would be reckless. The only way he could find out anything about me is if he has some inside help which wasn't likely. I was in an honors class and there weren't really any greasers in the class. A Soc probably wouldn't help him… maybe a middle class? Also not likely, but nothing is impossible.

Barry plopped down next to me. "So as I was saying—" he stopped when he noticed that I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't take any chances. "Hello? Ponyboy?"

The late bell rung and the teacher started her lesson. I took out a notebook to take notes. I could feel Barry's eyes on me before he took out his notebook and started to scribble in a note.

' _Why are you ignoring me?'_ he wrote. Scooting the paper near the edge of the desk but not far enough to make it look like he was trying to talk to me.

Clever. I opened my notebook more to be able to write notes as well as write back. _'I'm not supposed to talk to you.'_

' _Why?'_

' _I can't say.'_

' _Why?'_

' _If I tell you, you will react.'_

' _Does it have something to do with him?'_

' _If you mean Danny, then no.'_ I lied, taking advantage of not actually talking. If I were to tell him this with my voice, I would be a mess.

' _Then why? Why can't you talk to me?'_

' _Why do you always have to ask me why?'_

' _Because you're not telling me anything.'_

' _I don't need to tell you everything that's going on in my life.'_

Barry flinched after he read the last sentence. _'Sorry. I'm just worried.'_ He placed his pen down before picking it back up and writing, _'So I have to tell you something.'_

' _What is it?'_

' _When can we meet?'_

' _I'm not supposed to talk to you, remember? Write it out.'_

' _I rather not. It's really important. I want to tell you in person.'_

' _I can't talk to you in person. This is already risky enough.'_

I stopped writing to him, putting up a hand to rest my head on as well as block him from my view.

When the day ended, I slowly put my stuff in my bad, leaving the classroom when it was empty. Barry waited outside the door, arms crossed and a look of nervous determination on his face. "I really need to talk to you now!"

"I have to go. Someone's waiting to pick me up." I walked past him and he sped his paste to keep up with me.

"Dammit, Ponyboy! What did I do to make you ignore me?!"

"Nothing! You did absolutely nothing."

"Then, why?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? I can't say."

"Does it have something to do with why you're wearing a jacket today?"

"What's wrong with me wearing a jacket?" I asked, pulling down the sleeves that were already pulled to its limit.

"It's scorching outside!"

"What if I wanted to just complete an outfit? What is this? Discriminate against me?" I wanted to chew out my insults for making that horribly-made excuse and slam my head against the wall repeatedly. That was too far and wasn't true at all. I could care less about my outfit choices. I was just scared and desperate to stop the conversation. It's just that, that comment—or anything close to that—usually causes people to reel back and try to get out of the situation somehow and maybe even apologize. I wished that I could take back that comment. It made me sick to the stomach to even try saying something like that. I dug my nails into my bruised wrists and screamed at myself for being such an idiot.

Barry didn't try to reel back like I had hoped. "Of course not! Why would I discriminate if I'm gay too?"

I froze at the front door, looking at him with a bewildered expression. "Seriously?"

"Yes, and don't make that comment again. It was horrible."

"I know. I feel terrible about saying it." I looked down, lightly chuckling and he laughed too.

"Now, listen, I have something I need to tell you."

I looked around the empty school for Danny and rotated my hand to signal him to continue. One more sentence can't hurt. It doesn't look like he was watching me. But before Barry could get one word out, Danny entered the school, nearly crashing into us as we were right next to the door. My body froze, blood draining from my face. He looked between Barry and me, eyes glinting in anger.

"What's going on here?" he growled.

"H-He really needed to talk to me. He said it was really important."

"I thought I told you to not converse with him."

"I'm sorry. I think it's about our project."

"Oh?" He glared at Barry as he swung his arm around my shoulder, bringing me closer to him. I tensed up, skin crawling like I was covered in ants, and looked at my feet in shame. "Then it can be said in front of me."

"What's going on here?" Barry asked, looking at me, but I wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Can't you tell? Ponyboy's mine. We're together. Now what were you going to say?"

There was the longest pause before Barry said, "It's nothing. Forget it." His voice came out almost like a whimper. I glanced up, catching his broken expression before he muttered a goodbye and scurried back into the school even though he needed to leave.

The pressure around my shoulders grew tighter. "I think we need a nice long chat, Ponyboy…" Danny growled, stopping my heart.

 **o-o-o**

 **That one cringy paragraph tho… ^^;**

 **Replies:**

 _ **White collar black wolf**_ **: Thank you. Was the whole cringy paragraph okay?**

 _ **Meganova**_ **: I promise that I won't put abuse to the story. The only harm there is to Ponyboy is the harsh grabbing to the wrist which is basically over now.**

 _ **Blue eyed titan99**_ **: Yay :D Glad you're loving it.**


	5. Chapter 5

It's been about two weeks now. Attempting to finish the project had been rough. The only time Barry and I could work on the rocket was in class and we couldn't test them together. I was sitting next to him at the lab table, looking at our new design. We had tested a couple of rockets, each failed. This one wasn't much different than the last rocket. The layout was the same, but the fuel was different.

It's been two weeks and I haven't spoken about Danny and I. The gang doesn't know about him. They just knew something was up. Barry helped keep the secret after I begged him to not tell.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"Fine, how are you doing?" I answered.

"I mean with Danny. Has anything happened?"

"No."

Barry gave me a pointed look. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, honestly. As long as I don't do anything that pisses him off, he's actually nice."

"Yeah…sure… We had knocked off this topic for weeks now. Are you really with him?"

My body stiffened and I gave him a quick nod. "We are."

It didn't look like he fully believed me, but I could tell he was sad. He went back to work. Barry had been quiet lately. We used to talk a great number of times before he found out that Danny and I were "together". It made it awkward for us. I knew why I shouldn't talk to Barry, but why would he try to avoid me? I mean, we were safe in the classroom. It took a risk of communication to figure out that there wasn't anyone spying on me… so it should be safe to talk like we used to, right?

"Alright," Barry muttered.

"What's wrong?" I asked, finally having enough of this.

He looked at me, surprised with the sudden outburst. "Nothing's wrong."

"Then why do you look so sad whenever you're with me?"

"I'm not sad."

"You're sad, man. Did I do anything wrong?"

"No, you did nothing wrong."

"So there is something wrong. Why did you try to lie to me?"

"Are you complaining about me lying? How about you? I can tell that you are obviously discomforted with Danny. Why do you want to stay with him?"

I bit my tongue to keep my food in my stomach. I hated Danny. Fortunately, Danny doesn't do anything with me besides hug, pet me, and drag me everywhere. I opened my mouth to answer, but all that came out were choked sounds.

"Come on, you can tell me anything," Barry encouraged.

"I can't tell you this," I finally managed out.

"Why not? Does he have you on something? Is he threatening you? If it's not one of those, then I don't know why."

"Even though you're my friend, I just can't tell you." Barry shook his head, looking even sadder than he was before. I gave him a curious look, before saying, "There it is again. Why are you sad?"

"If you don't tell me what's up with you, why should I tell you what's up with me? I'm not going to tell you squat. If you're so smart, then you can figure out why yourself. Use that brain of yours."

The bell rung and Barry and I quickly cleaned up our mess. I stuffed the papers in my backpack and left without much of saying a goodbye. Danny took me home right after, and, even though I was uncomfortable, I couldn't get what Barry had said to me out of my mind. He said that like finding out what was wrong with him was obvious. How could it be obvious? Was it the whole "not able to finish the project" thing or the "not supposed to talk to" thing? It could be any or all of them or it could not. I rammed my brain for anything that would have hinted why, but everything came out blank.

With a frustrated sigh, I gave up trying to figure it out for tonight.

 **o-o-o**

The following days, Barry seemed odd. He wasn't quiet like the last few days or like he was when we met. He was, in the best words possible, more touchy and assertive. It first started out with him touching my shoulder as much as possible when we talked, and when we walked next to each other, he would bump arms with me. In class, Barry would often sneak up behind me when he had to get something. He would slither a hand in my greasy hair, which would instantly get me to move away and fix my hair. It made me uncomfortable to see him act like that.

Whenever I would ask him what he was doing, Barry would pout and ask if I figured it out yet. I haven't. I'm guessing his actions were hints, but I didn't get it. It was vexing.

I was sliding my folders down my bag as the room began to empty. An arm touched the bottom of my back, a shiver going down my spine. A warm breath brushed against my neck. "Hey," Barry whispered.

I quickly moved away, ears turning red. "Hey," I replied.

"So, I'm going to take the rocket home to test it out, alright?" At the last word, he placed his hand on my shoulder before moving it away.

"Yeah, that's fine." I looked out of the window and caught eyes with Danny who was just staring up at me. "Listen, I have to go."

Once again, Barry pouted, but instead of letting me leave out the door instantly, he wrapped his arms around me to pull me into a hug. My body stiffened as my arms were held against my sides. I pressed my lips in a tight line as my face exploded in red. This was the first time that he hugged me and the first time in a while I felt okay to be hugged. I took in his worn-out soapy scent and closed my eyes for a second. Before I knew it, Barry let me go.

I left the room and went to where Danny was waiting for me. He put an arm around my shoulders and led me to his car. Instead of driving me back near my house, Danny drove past it.

"Where are we going?" I asked, skeptically looking at him. "You passed my house."

"I'm taking you to my house."

"Your house?" I swallowed the lump in my throat and discreetly moved a little away from him. "Why are we going to your house?"

"I just want to take you home with me; show you my place." Warning alarms blared in my mind but I had to go along with him.

Danny pulled in front of a house that looked like it was about to fall apart. The lawn was dead and unkempt and the path to the front door was practically covered in long weeds. I felt bad about the place.

Danny placed his hand on my lower back and pushed me forward. The front porch dangerously creaked under my feet, and I was afraid that it was going to snap from under me. Danny opened the door and I reeled back at the smell. The house smelt like a mixture of smoke and mold. I had to hold a hand over my nose to step inside.

My heart thumped against my heart, and I wanted nothing more than to bolt outside the trashy house. Danny motioned me to the raggedy couch which I refused to sit on because it looked like there were items sticking out from the cushions.

"W-Where are your parents?" I asked, trying to distract myself as well as him.

"I don't like with them anymore," Danny replied, getting a cigarette box from his pocket and lighting a cigar in his mouth. "You want one?"

I stared at the box that was presented in front of me, before giving in. "Sure." I pulled one out and stuck it in my mouth. Danny took out his lighter again, lighting the end. Almost instantly, my mouth filled with smoke and I choked. I opened my mouth to let the smoke out. After a short while of getting used to smoking again, my body relaxed as my senses and brain activated were nullified. I was glad but disappointed in myself for giving in to the temptation. Sorry, Shawn. I couldn't lay off smoking for you.

"Shit!" Danny suddenly cursed. I looked at him with lazy eyes. "I need to get something. Wait here and don't move if you knew what was good for you." Danny left the house and I could hear his car start up and ride away.

I couldn't just stand there for who knows how long he will be gone. I walked over to the couch after putting out the cigarette in the ash tray. The couch was bugging me since I walked in the house. I bent down, carefully lifting the couch cushion and inhaled in shock. There were items pressed inside of the cushion. I pulled one out and felt sick to my stomach. The item that were inside the cushions were syringes, needle point up to impale anyone who sits on it. The syringes held a liquid inside. I didn't need an education in drugs to know what it was. I slid the needle back in and left the couch.

Nothing suspicious was inside the kitchen or the bathroom, so I walked inside the one bedroom. I looked under the bed, but found nothing and looked in the closet. I looked under the covers and inside all of his drawers. Nothing suspicious.

Before I decided to leave just in case Danny was about to return, my eyes caught a Polaroid camera on a box on the high shelf in the closet. I reached up, just barely able to grasp the camera, but when I pulled it down, I also knocked off the box. The contents scattered around. It didn't even take a second to process what was inside. What was inside made me sick in the stomach. My lunch rose up my throat and I vomited next to the contents.

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 _ **Meganova:**_ **Sure there won't be abuse in the story, but could you figure out what Ponyboy just found in the box?**

 _ **Justslaygold**_ **: Is BarryxPonyboy really your otp? What about ShawnxPonyboy?**

 _ **LOK**_ **: We're reaching the stationary phase of the exponential growth. It'll be chill for a while in the plateau phase then it'll go back on the growth.**

 _ **White collar black wolf:**_ **Thank you so much. :D**

 _ **Blue eyed titan99:**_ **Awe. Thanks .**


	6. Chapter 6

Scattered across the floor, on the top of the pile, were pictures of me. To no surprise, a lot of them were of me doing some meaningless act, like watching a movie or taking a walk. Those weren't what caused me to vomit. Besides locks of hair from multiple people, by the looks of it, and some other items, there were disturbing pictures of me. Pictures were taken of me sleeping, the photographer looming over me. There were pictures of me naked that were taken through the window or even through the crack between my closet doors. The fact that Danny had been inside my house at all, made me sick all over again.

Under those pictures were even more naked people, each one of them had been people from my school who had gone missing. Their bodies were bruised, wrists red from ropes. There were several exposing poses from each person. Some of them had a picture of them, legs completely spread out and a hand inside them. On the bottom of the pile, there were the same bodies but cut up into pieces.

Before I could do anything, I heard Danny's car outside the house. My body instantly froze, horror washing over me. I whipped my mouth as I looked at the vomit and photos and other items on the ground. I couldn't clean this up in time.

I didn't have much time. Maybe he wouldn't check this room until after I leave. What was going to happen when he finds this? Am I going to end up like the rest of them?

The front door creaked open. "Ponyboy?" Danny's voice rang out like a knife. It took less than a second for him to realize that I wasn't in the exact same spot as he left me. I gasped out in shock as heavy and fast footsteps thudded towards me. I had to get out of here.

I frantically looked around the room. The window! The footsteps were right outside the door when I reached the window. I tried to open it, but it didn't budge. II wiggled to try to get it free, getting even more frantic at each jiggle. The door swung open and I spun around, eyes wide. Danny looked from me to the floor before his eyes darkened.

He came charging at me at full speed. I backed away, but instantly hit the wall. He was on me in a second, grabbing both of my wrists sharply. "Now you've done it," he hissed.

"Let me go!" I cried out, eyes shedding tears. I tugged and kicked to try to get away, but he easily overpowered me. I screamed and struggled. Finally, I broke free of his hold for a second, but he grabbed onto me again and pushed me to the ground. I bit onto his arm as he tried to pin my hands over my head. I chomped down as hard as I could and tasted blood. Danny yelled out in pain and let go of me, recoiling back.

I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran out of the room; towards the front door. As soon as I left the room, Danny grabbed onto me again, but I tore myself free. I took another step forward, but it was caught on Danny's foot that snaked in front of me. I fell forward, body pushing against an open door. I expected to fall on the ground, instead of stairs to the basement.

My stomach flipped as I yelled out. I rolled my body into a ball, gritting my teeth at the impact. My body painfully tumbled down the wooden steps before I slammed into the ground, body unrolling. I was lucky that I, unusually, landed on dirt. My eyes looked up to the light that shone down from the open door. Danny's silhouette stood at the top, looking down on me.

I bolted up, eyes wide, and scrambled away. My arms tripped on a small, soft, bump in the dirt. Danny descended the stairs and flipped on the light. I could finally see clearly now. There were lumps on the ground that were around five to six feet long. It didn't take any thinking to know that this is where Danny buried the bodies.

"It's a shame. I was hoping this would have lasted longer," he said.

"Stay away from me!" I pleaded, voice stuttering.

"I can't do that."

Danny charged at me again. I stood up and ran away, farther into the basement, before switching directions to gain more time. The pathway to the basement door was clear. I sprinted as fast as I could up the stairs and through the door, Danny right on my heel. His hands brushed my back, but, finally, I pushed through the front door.

The asphalt gave me more grip and I ran even faster than in the house, stretching out my strides to make sure I didn't end up being overtaken again. I didn't look back as I continued my run. I didn't even know where I was going. All that mattered was that I get away from this lunatic.

By the time that I was at the end of the block, I was exhausted. Adrenaline was the only thing that kept me going. I swerved around roads and jumped shrubs and fences to try to lose him. I just couldn't shake him.

I swerved around another house and jumped inside someone's trashcan, closing the lid right before Danny came around the house. Danny slowed to a stop. He stood right outside the trashcan. I covered my mouth with my hands, afraid that my breaths would give away my position. My heartbeat was pounding so hard that if my breaths didn't give me away, it would. Snot was dripping from my nose. I wanted to sniff it back up, or even wipe the tears away.

"Where are you, Ponyboy?" Danny murmured. "You're here somewhere, and, when I find you, I will give you the worst punishment."

I could hear him rustle around outside. It was only a matter of seconds before he checked the trashcan.

 _Someone save me._ I prayed that I wouldn't be found, thoughts going to Shawn for comfort. If only he was here. I used to see Shawn in Danny, but, now, I realize how wrong I was.

The footsteps came back, crunching right outside the trashcan. I could hear hands wrap around the handle. I bit my lips, getting ready to spring out, but I never had to.

The owner of the house that the trashcan belonged to swung open their door and started screaming at Danny. "Get the fuck away before I call the cops; then rip your fucking dick off and shove it down your own throat!"

Danny removed his hand and backed away from the trashcan. He grumbled, cursing me out, as well as the man, and ran away. I let out a relieved breath and waited until the front door closed.

I climbed out of the trashcan and looked around. I didn't know where I was. I could be anywhere in Tulsa. With another bite of the lip, I began to jog in a random direction, eyes still puffy from crying.

I suppose I could have knocked on someone's door for directions or to get a ride, but I had way too many things on my mind to think about that. As I walked, my eyes skidded from one area to the next, watching for if Danny would jump out and attack me from nowhere. Even though I was stressed, I was relieved. I was safe for now.

As I continued walking, I noticed that the houses and standard of living was better getting better. That would mean I was getting farther away from home.

Before I could turn around, a stream of smoke shot up into the sky for a short distance before there was a flash of something falling. Instead of walking back the way that I came from, I started to jog in the direction of the smoke. That couldn't have been Barry and my rocket, right? There was a high possibility that it was, but I couldn't be sure because I haven't seen the test runs for our rocket in a while.

The rocket lifted off a bit away from the homes. When I came to the small clearing, my eyes instantly caught the figure of Barry, picking up the rocket. I walked to him and he turned around when he heard the rustle of the grass.

"Ponyboy? What are you—" he stopped his sentence midway, surprise turning to worry. "Are you okay? You look terrible. What happened?" He ran over to me, and held my shoulders.

I didn't think it was possible to cry again. I thought I had run out of tears, but when Barry asked me those questions, I completely broke down again. My knees buckled under me and I fell down, covering my face, ashamed of myself. Barry sunk to his knees as well, awkwardly holding out his arms, unsure of what he should do. He took a deep breath and engulfed me in a hug. I found myself, burrowing deeper in his chest.

"I should have listened to you! I should have called to cops," I whimpered.

"What did Danny do to you?"

So I told him everything that happened ever since I stepped into his car after school. He intently listened, squeezing me when I needed the extra comfort and face changing every few seconds at a reaction to the events. He was silent when I finished the story. "Holy shit…" he whispered, unable to come up with good words. "Ponyboy, you have to call the police."

"Don't you think I don't know that?"

He pulled away from me to stare directly in my face. His hands traveled to cheeks and brushed off the tears. "I know you know."

"The only reason why I didn't call in the first place was because…" I gasped, eyes opening wide again. "I was scared of him hurting the gang." I bolted up to my feet and started to run.

"Wait!" Barry screamed and pulled me back.

"Let me go! He's going to try to kill them!"

"But you don't know how to get back! You can't possibly make it back on your feet and without a sense of direction."

I stopped and spun around. "Then I can't warn them. What if he's already there?"

"I think they could fend for themselves for now. Right now, we need to call the fuzz. Then, I'll take you home. I just hope it's not too late."

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 **LOK: Here's the next update. I bet finding drugs would be a lot better than finding pictures of dead bodies.**

 **White collar black wolf: Here's the next update. I hope you liked this chapter.**

 **Blue eyed titan99: I did do that on purpose. I hope this chapter lived up to the ending. Ding, ding! You got it correct on your guess! :D**

 **Meganova: You were right on the first guess, but it went a bit deeper than you thought. I mean, finding pictures of that has to be absolutely disgusting.**

 **Justslaygold: Do you think that Ponyboy would throw up if he saw that? I think I overdramatized it a tad bit. I love and hate cliffhangers too xD**

 **Hello: Sorry for the late update.**

 **Pb: I'm sorry I couldn't update for a while.**


	7. Chapter 7

Barry's house came into view. I wobbled behind Barry, knees weak. I probably would have collapsed if I wasn't being dragged faster than gravity could shackle me. We pushed open the door and made a beeline to the phone. Barry scooped it up from the dial and waited until the phone was clear. He dialed the number for the police and gave me a gentile squeeze on the hand. Our fingers were laved together and out palms shared out sweat. The small action was comforting and made this situation just that bit better.

When the operator picked up, Barry repeated what I had told him. I was grateful that he talked for me. F I would have talked, I would have broken down and be inaudible.

Barry hung up the phone. "They're going to try to cat him, Ponyboy," he reassured.

"Thank you," I said. With his free hand, he patted me on the shoulder.

"Let's go, okay? Let's see if they're alright until the police comes."

We left Barry's house and started the run back to my house. It was exhausting, but I had to keep running and Barry did too.

Police cars were parked outside my house. The lights flashed brightly. I had to slow down to take everything in. I let go of Barry's hand as we walked to a police officer that was waiting outside. The wind pushed against my hand. It felt empty.

The officer saw us and walked over, not even looking at the crowd that had formed.

"Are you the boys who called?" he asked, voice monotone.

"Yes," Barry answered as I nodded.

The policeman turned to me. "And you're the victim?"

I nodded again. He gave a brief nod and motioned us through the crowd. Please, nobody be in there. As soon as we made it forward, the front door swung open. Several officers came out, followed by Danny, who was in handcuffs. Danny's eyes locked onto mine. His eyes were dull, lifeless. His eyes were grinning, but his lips pulled down in a deep frown. I shivered, his eerie facial expression imprinting in my brain. He sneered at me, letting out a low growl.

Danny was pushed into the cop car, but he struggled a bit out to glare at me. "You're fucked, Ponyboy! I'm gonna fucking kill ya!" he screamed before he was pushed back into the car and the door was shut on him. I moved my eyes to the house. I bit my lip and hoped that no one was hurt or dead inside the house.

"Ponyboy!" the crowd was parted as the gang pushed through. My shoulders slouched in relief. "What happened?"

"Why are the fuzz here?" Two-Bit asked.

"Kid, you look like shit," Steve commented.

Again, I didn't have to speak. I almost chocked out inaudible words of relief. The police officer filled them in. "The convict has been called in and captured. Danny is charged for homicide, rape, holding of drugs, breaking and entering, kidnapping, child pornography, and rape. Lucky, no one was inside. He was hiding inside the closet, armed. Ponyboy had been harassed for… How long?"

I shrugged. Each day had felt like hell. Each day dragged out. "Weeks… months now."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Darry asked.

"What do you think? He threatened me."

"All we could do is be thankful that we did get a call to catch him and no one else was killed or hurt. Fortunately Ponyboy was able to escape. Today was probably the day that Ponyboy would have been kidnapped," the policeman answered. "He's not going to cause public to physical public anymore."

The police car holding Danny drove away and the policemen left did one final circle in and outside the house before leaving themselves. I turned towards Barry. "Thanks again for helping me out."

"Anytime." Barry gave me a hug, which was awkward with the gang staring and all. I gave him a slight tug and pulled away, ears a bit red from thinking about all the future teasing. When Barry stepped back, he looked confused, but didn't comment.

Barry left after another minute before Two-Bit swung his arm over my shoulder, completely forgetting what took place in the house, and snickered. "Was that your boyfriend?"

My heart fluttered for a bit. "No. He's just a friend."

"Right, _friend_ ," Two-Bit chuckled. "You don't hug any of your other friends like that."

I turned my attention to the others before focusing solely on Darry. He had his arms crossed and a look that I couldn't describe besides that it was unnerving. Even Two-Bit stopped joking around.

"Tell me again, why didn't you tell us what was happening?" he asked.

"Darry…" Soda warned, looking pitiful at him. "He's safe now. Nothing happened in the end."

"Yes, luckily. He could have avoided this altogether by still telling one of us in secret."

"He hid in our house… I don't know how many times or how long at a time. All I know is that he knew me more than I did… If I told you, he probably would have known before we could react," I reasoned.

"Let's just drop this for now. Please, Darry. No one wants to deal with this right now."

Darry agreed with Soda after seeing everyone's tired faces.

The next time I went to school, everything changed. Besides the fact that everyone in the damn school was looking at me again, this time because of Danny instead of being of a different sexual orientation than most of them, it would have gotten pretty well. Until Barry walked to me, his demeanor more shy and nervous than usual.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," I replied.

"So… have you figured it out already?"

I opened my mouth. At first I could only release a breath. "I honestly haven't thought about it too much. I was too caught up in other things."

His slightly hopeful face dropped. "Well… can you piece it all together from everything you do have?"

I took the moment to think about it. I knew that he had been touchier and always looking at me. The only thing that came to mind was that he liked me. That thought also caused me to blush a bit. I couldn't ask if he liked more or not, because, if he didn't after all, that could, more or less, ruin our friendship. Unless, I make a joke of it, but, if he did like me, and I made that a joke, it could also be bad.

I gave him a raise of the shoulder. "Can you give me another hint?"

Barry sighed but raised an eyebrow. "I think you know already."

Oh? Oh. "Barry… do you like me by any chance?"

He nodded stiffly. "I like you, Ponyboy. Do you like me back?"

 **o-o-o**

 **This chapter is dedicated to the reviewer** _ **bnm**_ **. Happy birthday! :D**

 **Replies:**

 **White collar black wolf: Thanks :)**

 **LOK: Yay. That means that I did well.**

 **Blue eyed titan99: That's good. I was hoping it wasn't going to be creepy enough.**

 **Meganova: Haha. Yeah, I was reading the first review and was like, "what?" It's all good. I do that a lot. Stay gold! :D**

 **Bnm: Happy birthday!**


	8. Chapter 8

Tension was thick. I shifted from feet to feet, clenching and unclenching my clammy hands. It felt like I was going to throw up again. My stomach had an army of butterflies. I didn't know what to say. Did I like him? What did I even feel anymore? Confused and nervous, yes, but those were more of thoughts than emotions.

Barry's hopeful eyes killed me inside. I didn't think I like him… I don't know. Maybe I did, and that's why I'm all nervous and thinking this hard.

"I don't know if I like you in that way back… I really don't know… Now that I think about it, I don't know anything about you at all. I don't even know your last name. I don't know, maybe I like you… I'm just not ready… I'm not ready to be in a relationship, especially in a relationship with a friend that could as well be a stranger," I said, not able to bring myself to look in his eyes. "Heck, do you even know anything about me? You know absolutely nothing."

"You're right, I know absolutely nothing about you. I don't know that your name is Ponyboy Michael Curtis… I, uh, read it on your schedule… I don't know that you stop to watch the sunset, or how your favorite book is _Gone with the Wind_. I don't see that you like to observe, or that you always get lost in the clouds. Yeah, I know nothing about you," he ranted. With each sentence, he stepped even closer to me until we were only a nose-length apart. "But, I do see how kind and caring you are, and I see that you are different than your average greaser. I know that at the end of the day, you'll walk with me instead of getting a ride to insure that I probably won't get jumped, because that's the type of person you are."

Our eyes locked and there was another standstill. If it was possible, the atmosphere grew thicker. Neither of us moved, even when the bell rung. My body was pushed forward by passing people and I snapped back into reality. I started to step away from Barry.

"Hey, Ponyboy…" Barry called out again. I looked back at him. "Barry Donald Silva." Another waver of people passed, and Barry was gone.

I haven't seen Barry for the rest of the day. The final bell rung for the day and I stepped down the stairs of the front of the school and got out of the way of the rampaging students. I looked up at the door, scrutinizing everyone's faces. I waited for Barry to appear. What he said was right. I wanted to walk with him and make sure he would be alright.

Finally, after I waited until the doorway was mostly cleared, I saw Barry's head poke out from behind another person. Our eyes locked. I saw his lips twitch to a smile before his face turned blank, eyes dull of emotion. It felt like someone had grabbed my heart and yanked it out. My stomach dropped and I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't stand that look that was printed on his face.

"Hey…" I greeted, calmly, as if to not startle a deer, as he tried to pass by me.

He stopped and turned. "Hey," he replied, forcing a small smile on his lips. We fell in an awkward silence again. Barry looked everywhere but at me.

"Let me walk with you?" I finally had the nerve to ask.

"Yeah, sure." We both shifted uncomfortably. I took the initiative in beginning our walk. He trailed slightly behind me, but still close enough to be considered next to me. His eyes dug into the cracks in the cement, lips not separating from each other. I would be lying if I said that I haven't thought of me hightailing away or that I didn't regret walking him home at one point.

We didn't really talk much… actually, not at all. It was like our voices were stolen from us. Still, even when we passed the border of where the lower class homes end and the middle class homes begins, I continued walking with him. I only stopped when we reached his house.

Barry looked at me, mouth parting and a small, chocked sound escaped him. "Do…"He stopped, biting his bottom lip before he shook his head. "Thanks for walking me back. You didn't have to walk me this far."

I shrugged. "I wanted to make sure you would get back home alright… Besides, I like walking."

He smiled, this time more genuine, before he turned around to hide his face. Without another look at me, he walked back into his house. I waited there until the front door shut before heading back home.

It had always been awkward for us since then. Every day, for weeks, I would take him home or he would take me home. We couldn't look at each other anymore. I hated it. I hated feeling my heart drop when I would see him, and how my brain would go blank. I wanted to be able to have the old conversations that I had with my friend.

My heart dropped again. Friend. That word was offsetting. It just didn't feel right. Did I not want to be his friend? I couldn't fathom what I felt. Everything was confusing, like a giant mess. I didn't want to be his friend, but, in the same time, I didn't want to lose him as a friend. Maybe I wanted to be more than friends. Maybe I also liked him.

This time my heart sped up and a light blush painted my cheeks. I smiled gently, but it dropped when I thought about Shawn. It felt like I was betraying him, but then I remembered we weren't together anymore. We were done and I needed to get over him. I needed to move on. I needed to do something to ensure that.

Again, I waited for Barry to exit the school. He joined me before we started to walk back to his place. Again it was silent. We got to his house soon enough and he was about to walk in, but I stopped him. "Barry, hold on." He turned to me. I gulped. I didn't think this through. What should I say that would cover this up? "Um… our project… we should work on it…"

"Yeah, do you want to come in? I have the rocket in there."

We entered the house and I sat on the couch while he retrieved the rocket that was propped in his room. I pulled out a sheet of paper and pencil, smoothing it out on the coffee table, and scooted even closer to him, testing my boundaries.

"Okay, so our rocket goes up about…" I began.

"Not that far. 200 yards, I would say."

"Okay, and it still explodes?"

"Yeah."

"I'm guessing that there are air sockets in our design."

Barry leaned over to get closer to the paper as we worked through some problems. They didn't notice how close they were until they tuned to face each other. Their noses almost touched and their breaths pressed against each other's faces. For the first time in a long time that they held eye contact, unable to tear away.

My eyes traveled to his pink, parted lips, before flickering back to his eyes. His eyes were glazed over, cheeks red. I bet I was the same. Slowly, we inched closer to each other.

 **o-o-o**

 **Thank you to** _ **Blue eyed titan99**_ **for the idea she sent me for this chapter.**

 **Replies:**

 **Meganova: *blushes* no no no, don't read my other stories. They really aren't that good, in my opinion. *blushes harder and hides face with hands* Thank you so much. Stay gold! :)**

 **Bnm: You're welcome. I hope your day was awesome.**

 **Blue eyed titan 99: Thank you again for your idea :)**

 **White collar black wolf: Thank you! I hope this chapter was alright. This one just made me go, "eeeeehhhh."**


	9. Chapter 9

My eyes were shut tight. I wanted to close that few inches between us, but I couldn't do it. Before our lips could press together, I pulled away. I didn't look at his face, but I could imagine that it wasn't as red as mine were. I couldn't feel any emotions from him, and it was unsettling. I shifted away.

"I…uh…" I tried to form a sentence, but it was like a mist shrouded my brain.

"I think that should be all today," Barry hissed. There was a pang in my heart that I haven't felt in a long time.

Nodding, I stood up, gathering my backpack. We didn't really work on the project. "So," I began, forcing myself to talk, "what should we do about the project?"

"We can forge it at school and then test it later."

"Alright, then…" I walked to the door, Barry right behind me. He grabbed the opened door, holding it open until I left. I finally turned around and froze. His expression was blank, but his eyes were watery. I opened my mouth again, but no words came out. Damn my little knowledge on dealing with these situations.

"I wish that you would stop leading me on…" Was the last thing I heard from him before he slammed the door in my face.

 **o-o-o**

Three weeks. I haven't seen him other than our class together. Even at the end of the day, I didn't see him. Barry was exerting extra work in making sure we never see each other. He stays at school for a long time, waiting for me to leave without him. I've never tried to hunt him down. Maybe that was the problem. We are growing more apart by the day, and now none of us are willing to make a move. To be fair, I was the one who had to make the move. He had done what he could, and I have only made the situation worse. I couldn't do that though. My pride and masculinity ensured that I didn't chase after him. Though, there were times where I knew I had to suck it up, and right now was one of them.

I would rather say that I'm doing this to finish the project, but I was really sick of this all. I wanted this conflict to end. I just wished that I kissed him like I wanted to before.

I walked away from school, but stopped when I was out of immediate view. I turned back around and started to march back. In front of the school, leaving, was Barry. He was gripping the rocket we had forged as he stared at the dark-clouded sky.

"Barry," I called out. He snapped his attention to me, eyes widening in wonderment and shock.

"Ponyboy?" he sputtered. "What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you. We need to work on the project together." I patted myself on the back for finding a reason to hang out and time to sort our problem.

He nodded. "I was actually just going to see if it will fly. There isn't a reason for you to come."

"We're both working on this project. I have to help."

Reluctantly, he allowed me to come with him, keeping a large gap between us. We made it to this clearing, which was basically just a section, just large enough to work safely, and somewhat in an area where it wouldn't be too disruptive.

Barry set the platform and rocket up. He bent down, flicking the lighter and lighting the fuse, before sprinting towards me. We were both standing a ways back, but it was still dangerous.

The fuse burned out, and the rocket shot up, but didn't go as far as our best rocket. Instead, the rocket took a sharp turn, spiraling towards us. I dove to the side and tackled him to the side, right when the rocket crashed into the ground where we once stood.

Both of us were breathing hard. It took a moment to realize that I was straddling him, both of my arms were on either side of his head. My breath hitched, and I wanted to move closer, but, once again, moved away. I held out my hand for him to take, and lifted Barry to his feet.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," he breathed out. Both of us started at each other and burst out laughing. I don't know what caused us to have this fit, but, at that moment, I couldn't care less. We laughed even when our stomachs burned from the exertion. The rocket was sending flames into the atmosphere, lighting up our faces. "What do we do about this?"

Before I could answer, a drop of water plopped on Barry's nose, which scrunched up cutely in response. We both glanced up, raindrops falling at a faster rate. We laughed again, as the sprinkle turned into a downpour. The flames died down as we laughed at the coincidence. This was straight out of a sitcom. The rain was refreshing and cold, washing out the dirt from our bodies and the grease in my hair. My long hair fell down and I smoothed it back with my hands. Barry was still laughing next to me. I turned to him, again my breath hitched as I took the sight of him. His face was worry-free, like he was a kid again, and his clothes clung to every angle of his body. Barry noticed my stares and turned to me, looking shyly away. I looked away too, ears reddening.

Even though the rain was fun and all, we had to get out of the rain or we will catch a cold. There wasn't a nearby structure so I took off my jacket walked over to him, holding it over our heads to create a makeshift umbrella. We stood in the rain, just staring out from under the jacket, before Barry turned his head back towards me. His cheeks were red as he noticed how close we were, pupils blown out. None of us noticed that we were leaning closer to each other until out lips brushed. We stopped until Barry put a hand to the back of my neck and pressed out lips together, sending electric waves, while I held the jacket.

I slowly closed my eyes and tilted my head, pushing a bit closer. The kiss was sweat and slow, and nothing but shy love. We pulled away moments later, our breaths mixing together. The sound of rain had stopped. At first we didn't notice it. I was about to pull back in, but Barry turned slightly away, eyes widening. When I turned around, I gasped in shock.

The rain had stopped…yet it didn't. Raindrops were suspended in air, levitating like magic held them up. The clear balls were in every inch around us. I pulled the jacket down. It was everywhere. Heck, it wasn't even the rain that had stopped. A duck that was about to land was frozen in midair and everything was silent. There was no sound of cars in the distance or anything. It was like the world had stopped spinning.

I really shouldn't have been as surprised as I had been. Whenever I kissed Shawn, we swapped bodies. I guess kissing Barry wasn't that different. We just froze time instead.

Barry was absolutely ballistic. His hands were digging into his scalp as we spun around so fast that I was sure he would get whiplash. "What? What is happening?" His voice was a higher pitch that made me crack a grin. "This goes against the laws of physics! How…What?" He spun around to me to check that I was seeing what he was seeing, but was surprised by the lack of response. "Why aren't you freaking out about this?!"

How could I say this without sounding crazy? "Something like this happened before. Whenever Shawn and I kissed, we switched bodies, as crazy as that sounds."

Barry fell silent, eyebrows scrunching together. He didn't believe me at first, but realization hit him like a wrecking ball. "Is that why your personalities would be different sometimes?"

I nodded. "It was our secret. I don't think this is any different from that."

"This is so far out…" Barry, getting out of his surprise, reached out, gently poking one of the raindrops. He smiled as it broke apart on contact. "How do you change everything back?"

"I think… we have to kiss again—at least that's how it was with Shawn."

Both of our cheeks were burning red, but one of us had to take the initiative. I leaned in, looking directly into his eyes, which were now locked onto mine, asking for permission. He slowly nodded. I caressed his cheek and closed the distance. Barry instantly responded with wrapping his arms around my neck. Again, out kiss was short-lived as the rain pelted us again. We pulled apart, silly grins on our faces. I covered us again with my jacket and we both ran to find cover, leaving our rocket remnants behind.

We had managed to find ourselves at a church, and, without much thought, ran to it. Of course, the doors were locked, so we pressed ourselves to the side of the building, letting the roof catch the water. Barry and I sat down close together, shivering a storm. Somehow, during the sitting, I had linked our index and middle fingers together.

He leaned his head against my shoulder and I rested my head on his. The rain wasn't going to let up anytime soon.

"Hey, Ponyboy…" Barry murmured. I hummed in response, content with just sitting there. "Are we…together now?

For a while, we only heard the pattering of the rain. "What do you want to us to be?"

"If it's alright, will you be my boyfriend?"

There wasn't anything to think about. I knew my answer since we first kissed. "Of course."

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 **White collar black wolf: Thank you. :) Hope you liked this chapter too.**

 **Blue eyed titan99: Awe, you make me blush. / Thank you.**

 **Meganova: I think your errors are cute. ^^ Stay gold.**


	10. Chapter 10

I probably looked ridiculous with that huge, goofy smile that plastered my lips. My hands were still trembling, and my stomach had a cage, filled with a thousand butterflies, waiting to burst free. I gripped hard onto Barry's hand as we both stood up from the side of the church. It had stopped raining recently and both of us had to return home. As soon as we stood up, we let go of each other's hands, blushing. It was hard to walk around without getting looked at funnily. There really shouldn't have been a problem. No one was outside at this time, but it was good to be cautious.

It was night. What time? I couldn't say. All I knew was that Darry was going to be pissed. We were closer to my house, but I insisted that I walk him home. During the time, Barry laced our fingers together. I looked at him incredulously, surprised that he would do this in public—to be fair, no cars even passed us yet. I could hardly see Barry, but I could tell he was smiling contently. I gave his hand a little squeeze and pulled him closer until our shoulders were pressing together.

When we reached his house, Barry let go and gave me a quick peck on the lips, freezing time temporarily. "Thanks for walking me home…"

I pulled him in a tight hug, sighing in content. Our wet bodies pressed together for a short moment before I pulled away, kissing him shortly to unfreeze time. Our hands were linked for a moment before we pulled apart and I walked home, cringing at the light in the window. The smile that laced my lips disappeared.

Darry was sitting in his chair when I walked inside. He stood up and marched to me. "Where were you? You're soaking wet!"

"I was working on a project with Barry. It started to rain during the testing and we had to wait until the rain stopped. Besides, I made it back before…" I glanced at the clock. "…ten o' clock."

He looked at me disapprovingly, but he relaxed. "Next time, call to let me know that you're going to be out late, and to get a ride. You could have been jumped."

"But I wasn't. I'm fine, Darry. I'm going to take a shower now." I left the room and into the bathroom. I slowly peeled off the clothes that stuck to my body. I stepped inside the warm water that fell from the showerhead. My mind kept wandering to Barry, making my body feel hot (or maybe that was the fast change of body temperature). Subconsciously, my hands touched my lips, causing me to lightly flinch. I could still feel Barry's soft lips lingering on mine. My cheeks were warm and I couldn't place if it was from the water, Barry, or I was actually sick.

I stepped out of the shower and walked back to my room to do my homework. Soda wasn't inside, but I didn't question it. Once I took out my notebook, the door opened ad my brother, Soda, strolled in. He instantly turned to me, a playful smirk playing on his lips. "Why are you smiling? Did something good happen?"

I didn't know that I was still smiling or if Barry would want to make our relationship public yet, but I didn't like to lie to my brother. "Yeah, something _really_ good happened."

"What?"

"Come on, Soda…"

"Come on, tell me."

"Alright, but quit your griping." Both of us chuckled. I looked down, biting my lip whilst smiling. "Barry and I are a couple now."

Soda's contagious smile grew. He ruffled my hair and I playfully slapped his hand away, fixing my hair.

 **o-o-o**

I sniffled, rubbing the bottom of my nose with my sleeve. I felt like crap. I really hoped that I wouldn't catch a cold. Sneezing, I flung the backpack over my shoulder and walked out of my house without breakfast. Two-Bit was supposed to drive Johnny and me to school today, but I just wasn't feeling it.

Along the way, a heavy weight pressed down on my back. "Hey, there!" Barry's pipped. He wrapped his legs around my torso for a second before jumping off. I spun around, sheepish smile on my lips. He looked like hell spun him over. His clammy skin made him look as dead as the living could be. He was knackered and sick. "I'm not doing that again for a while. You sick too?"

"Yeah. Did you guess from how bad I looked?"

Barry hugged me. "How bad you looked? No. You look just as good as you always do."

I raised my eyebrow. "Are you saying that I look sick all the time?"

He recoiled, blushing when he realized what he said. "No, no! You don't look sick all the time! I just—"

I chuckled. "I knew what you mean. Let's be sick together." We pulled apart and I grabbed his hand, giving him a look to ask if this was okay. Barry squeezed my hand as an answer and we walked towards the school, ignoring the looks that people gave us when they passed by. Barry stopped when we could see the school peeping over the distance. I looked at him quizzically. "What is it?"

"What do you suppose we do?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"What are we going to do about the school?"

It occurred to me that he wasn't out of the closet to anyone besides me and his parents. He was scared. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know."

"It's okay, everything's going to be fine. We don't have to show them that we're together right now if you're not up to it, but it's not that different than walking down the street just then."

Barry looked down ashamed. "I want to walk in with you."

Letting go of Barry's hand, I spun to face him. "Can I try something?" Without even seeing if he agreed, I leaned forward, ghosting my lips over his. I hesitated, not quite used to making the first move. Barry understood what I was thinking, and closed the short distance between us. Again the kiss was short and soft, but I wasn't expecting it to go any farther. A blush spread across our already red faces as we pulled away.

Time froze for us. I grabbed his hand again and we walked inside the school, swerving around all of the frozen people. We got to my locker and again we kissed shortly to unfreeze time. Students and faculty buzzed around us, unaware at what happened.

"I still can't get over the whole 'stopping time' kiss fiasco," said Barry as he looked around him.

"I can't either," I replied.

"But this happened to you before!"

"Shawn and I swapped bodies. This is entirely different. Even when Shawn and I have kissed a lot, I still wasn't used to it." Come to think about it, I've never had a normal kiss in my life. The realization made me break out in laughter, which earned me crazy looks, but I disregarded them.

"Hey, it's Ponyboy and his friend with benefits—I mean, friend," Two-Bit said as he joined us, Johnny right behind him.

"He's not that kind of friend," I interjected, rolling my eyes as my ears reddened. Barry was just as bashful.

"Oh, you want to be more secret about this. I got you." Two-Bit winked at us. It was Johnny's turn to roll his eyes.

"No! We're—" I looked at my boyfriend who gave me a short nod. "—boyfriends."

"You're finally together? Watching you two together was like tension on a stick."

"I'm happy for you, Ponyboy," Johnny said.

"Thank you, Johnnycakes," I said, relieved that we were escaping Two-Bit's dirty jokes.

"Hey, I'm happy for you too!" Two-Bit practically screamed.

"Thank—"

"You can't spell 'happiness' without 'P-E-N-I-S'."

I groaned. "Two-Bit?" He hummed. "Shut up."

"What's your name, again?" Two-Bit asked Barry. "Er… Richard, right? Ponyboy, you like Dick a lot?"

"His name's not Richard."

"No matter how I look at him, I see a Dick."

"Two-Bit, his name's Barry."

"Really? Well, I bet, deep down, you are a Dick." Two-Bit placed his hand on Barry's shoulder as if he was trying to be sentimental. Barry leaned away, unsure of how to react. I moved Barry out of his grip and he visibly relaxed. "Golly, Ponyboy, you don't have to be all sensitive about it. It was only a joke. Besides, Pony, you're the one's who's going to ride—"

"Goodbye!" I dragged Barry away, face exploded in red.

Two-Bit called out to me, as if he ignored my introduction to Barry's name, "Yeah, you go get Dick!" Most of the attention to the hallway around us turned to look at Two-Bit, before looking at Barry and I and glowered. Barry dropped his hand from mine and looked to the ground.

"Come on, Barry, let's go," I muttered, low enough that only he heard me. He nodded and we walked to a new location.

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 **Meganova: Yeah, it's cute, but I had the urge for something sexy. I can't do that because it's rated 'T'. So, instead, I'll just make a lot of dick jokes, and hope that it will still be cute. It sucks because I really want to go far out and try something new, but not this story. Maybe I'll write a rated 'M' one-shot for this fanfiction :/ Thank you :)**

 **Justslaygold: Haha, I was actually planning on going one or two more chapters with teases before giving into the relationship. Are you glad that I didn't do that? I'm actually quite happy that I didn't wait some more, because that would have been agonizing to me as well as you. xD**

 **Blue eyed titan99: OMG, a love confession. I love you too! 3 ;)**

 **Bnm: I almost forgot about adding the time freeze thing. It wouldn't be much of a sequel to Swap Kiss without it. Thank you so much .**

 **White collar black wolf: Can you tell that this chapter was me pushing through a writer's block? I literally added all of the dick jokes because I didn't think this chapter was good enough. I don't know, what do you think?**


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm going to spend the night at Barry's place," I informed Darry. He gruffly nodded at me and I left the house. Barry and I planned to finish the project today. Of course, we never do, and I don't plan on doing so. I approached Barry's house with a set determination. I wrinkled my runny nose as ringed the doorbell. Seconds later, the door swung open and arms wrapped around my torso. I wasted no time to hug him back.

"Were you waiting by the door for me?" I muttered into his ear.

Barry hummed. "There was nothing to do…"

I chuckled and we separated, still holding onto each other's hand. Barry let me enter his house and brought me to his room. His room was plain—little to no decorations and had nothing that blared a personality. Barry sat on the bed, where everything was already set up, and patted the mattress.

I raised an eyebrow. "We're going to work on your bed?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

That was enough of an explanation for me. I climbed on the bed in front of him and he threw a throw-blanket over out laps, tangling out legs together for comfort and more warmth. As we continued our work, I noticed that Barry's eyes were glazed over and his face showed no emotion. He was thinking about something.

"What's on your mind?" I asked, reaching over to take a hold of his hands. I scooted closer to him, bending our legs, and stopping before I could touch his actual body.

Barry pursed his lips, thinking about how to phrase everything. "It's nothing. It's stupid…"

"It can't be stupid. What are you thinking?"

"Do you think that if we were to stop time forever, we will never age?" It was a naïve question, but completely adorable. Somehow, the innocence only made him more attractive. Was I like that in the eyes of Shawn? Maybe he just rubbed off on me and I am acting like him, or maybe my hormones have completely taken over that part of my mind.

"Maybe. We can't really know. Why?"

"I was just trying to figure out our whole situation."

That wasn't the whole truth. He was hiding something, but I didn't push him. Instead, I gave Barry a pointed look and didn't push the question further. "You know, even if it does stop out age, we wouldn't be able to do anything together." I leaned forward, changing my position to be kneeling. I straddled his thighs and brushed my breath on his face. Barry's beautiful eyes dilated as he stared at my lips. He moved a bit forward but he froze when I smirked. "We have to get back to work." I dragged myself away, almost unable to resist.

Barry looked appalled, his mouth was open and he hit me playfully in the chest. "You asshole."

I hit him lightly back in the chest. "I'm the asshole? You're the asshole."

Barry squinted his eyes at me before hitting me in the arm. "How am I the asshole?"

I hit him in the arm. Two can play that game. "By being so irresistible."

I was shoved and I shoved back. Soon it was a pushing battle before we started to wrestle, limbs tangled with each other, unsure of whose was whose. We grunted and rolled around on the floor, trying to mount the other. Since I was fit, I was able to pin Barry down. I lied my body on top of his. We stared at each other's eyes before I gave into my hormones. Barry was lifting his head up as far as he could as I smashed my lips on his.

We were sloppy, not used to each other's tempo. His lips were intoxicating and only edged me farther. For a moment, I remembered something Shawn would do when we kissed. I dragged my tongue across his bottom lip. Barry seemed to understand what I was requesting and opened his mouth for entrance. I slid my tongue in his mouth and met with his. We fought for his dominance, but I was winning because I had more experience. We both moaned and were soon running out of breath. I retracted my tongue and lightly bit his bottom lip and dragged it out, before letting it go.

Our breaths were heavy and the look on Barry's face made me want to go back in, but we had to stop before we went too far. I got off of him. "We did absolutely nothing again."

"I don't want to do anything today," Barry moaned and reached up to for me to pick him up. I rolled my eyes and complied, stepping on his feet and pulling him up.

I didn't want to do anything today either. "Let's go out?"

Barry nodded and practically dragged me out of the house. We walked in a random direction, not really planning on going anywhere special. As we walked more, the scenery started to change to a much nicer community. I frowned. "Do you want to head the other direction?"

Before he could answer, footsteps were behind us. I grabbed Barry's hand tighter as we turned around and begun backing away. Two Socs were grinning at taking small steps forward.

"Look at who happened to step into our territory!" one of them said, sneering.

"We don't need trash here, faggots," the other hissed, glaring dangerously.

I glared back, visibly trembling. "Then why don't you take yourself out to the dumpster?" I spat at their feet, which was a bad idea at the time because it only angered them more. Barry and I backed up more, but were stopped by firm chests. Two more Socs joined in, trapping us.

Hands grabbed my hair, yanking me away from Barry who screamed in shock. I yelled Barry's name but I was shoved to the ground. I braced myself to be kicked, but nothing happened. I looked up to see that three of them were turned away from me and one of them was unconscious. I looked up more. There was another person, facing me, but standing behind the wall of Socs. I looked up more and my heart skipped a beat. My eyes widened and my breath caught in my throat.

"Shawn?" I gasped out.

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 **Blue eyed titan99: I am hoping to put more moments to embarrass them in this story. . Thanks for reviewing 3**

 **White collar black wolf: Thank you and thanks for reviewing. :D**


	12. Chapter 12

Shawn didn't look any different than the day he left—brown hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin. He stood there in all his glory like he hasn't left. Now he was faced, hands in fists and slightly bouncing on his toes. He cracked his knuckles and loosened his shoulder. Shawn swung his fist at the nearest Soc, sending him stumbling back. One of the Soc's friends rushed at Shawn, but I swung my leg out and tripped him. As soon as he fell forward, Shawn pushed him down behind himself and grabbed one the Soc that wasn't hit yet. They pushed each other, grabbing at each other's shirt, trying to break free in order to sock the other. The Soc that was pushed earlier grabbed Shawn from behind as the other guy broke free and began punching him in the face and gut.

A yell left my mouth. I pushed myself up and tried to pull the attacker away, but I was grabbed by the third guy. I was thrown to the side, legs landing on the ground awkwardly. The next thing I knew, my head slammed into the asphalt. My vision blurred as electric currents ran through my body. Shawn grunted with every hit.

As soon as everything seemed lost, a shadow loomed over me and I felt chapped lips on my own for a split second before everything stopped. My vision focused again as I rubbed my head that was bound to bruise. Time had frozen. The Soc's punch was an inch away from Shawn's bloodied and bruised face.

"Are you alright?" Barry asked me, but I ignored him, too transfixed with Shawn. I pushed myself on my feet and was seemingly pulled towards him. Without control, I pushed the Soc away from Shawn and wrapped my arms around his torso, earning a grunt of pain. Barry fell silent behind me. Shawn removed himself from the hold and hugged me.

I looked up at his face and reached to rub bruises and wipe some blood off of his face. "Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah…" he breathed out, looking around. "Why are they frozen?"

Biting my lips, I decided to explain later. I changed the topic. "What are you doing here?" Shawn shook his head, looking quite ashamed. I knew then that this story was not appropriate in this situation. "Let's clean you up first."

I helped him to a spot away from the Socs, Barry stalked close behind. Shawn sat down against the wall, wincing when he bent his body. I situated myself between his legs, licked my palm, and rubbed it against his face. He chuckled even though he was in a lot of pain. "Do you have to lick your hand?"

"How else am I going to remove the blood?"

Shawn laughed again as I finished up cleaning the blood. "So what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in college?"

"About that… I dropped out."

"After all we did to get you into college?" I raised an eyebrow.

"College is so hard. Plus, I had a sports scholarship remember?"

"You still wouldn't have caught the college's eyes as much without me."

"Yeah, I know, and I'm grateful that you helped me."

Barry cleared his throat. I was ashamed to say that I had forgotten he was there. He rubbed his head and we both smiled at each other awkwardly (though his smile was strained). This must have been awkward for him—seeing Shawn here and all. I was surprised that, even though Shawn and I weren't together anymore, it felt like we were.

"Oh, Shawn, this is Barry," I introduced, not mentioning the fact that he was my boyfriend to avoid even more awkwardness. Shawn nodded at Barry to say his greeting, and Barry, in return, just narrowed his eyes. I cocked my head. That wasn't like him. "I'm going to talk to Barry for a moment."

I separated from Shawn and walked far enough away so that he wouldn't be able to hear us. Barry didn't look at all happy. He crossed his arms and looked at me expectedly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing's wrong," he replied, lips tight in a line.

"I could tell that something's wrong."

"I just don't like how you act with Shawn. You act like you're more than friends."

"We've just known each other for a while."

"Yeah, but you're not together anymore—"

"That's right, we're not friends anymore," I snapped, irritated. We bother glared at each other as I balled my hands into fists. "What are you, jealous of nothing?"

"I'm not jealous."

"Yes, you are. If you weren't jealous then we wouldn't be in the mess!"

"So we're a mess now?"

That shut me up. My anger evaporated in an instant. "No… no, we're fine," I tried to sooth him, but I knew he still wasn't going to give this argument up.

"Then why are we arguing?"

"We don't need to be fighting."

"Yeah, we don't need to fight. We can end this now."

Barry spun on his heels and marched away, still fuming. My chest clenched and I almost ran after him, but I couldn't leave Shawn there by his lonesome, plus he would need time to cool off. With that decision settled, I walked back to Shawn who has already stood up.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"He just had to go home before his parents worried," I replied. Shawn cocked his eyebrow but didn't press. We both started to walk together towards my house. Shawn wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I didn't know what to feel anymore. I thought I was over Shawn, but I guess that I wasn't completely. But I still liked Barry and, right now, he was more important. I moved away which earned a sad look.

"So, what is your relation with Barry?" Shawn asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"He's my boyfriend."

"Oh." The disappointment in his voice didn't go unnoticed.

"I didn't think you were going to be coming back."

"I didn't know either."

"You had a place there, didn't you? Why didn't you stay there? Your parents no longer live here."

"I don't know if I should bring it up."

"What's with people not telling me anything? Come on, Shawn," I chuckled, momentarily forgetting my problems.

"I came back to get you back."

 **o-o-o**

 **This is very important. I need to know who you would like Ponyboy with more: Shawn or Berry. This is your final chance to keep the story on the same track or change it completely. Also, next chapter might be the last chapter. Maybe it will be the following chapter, I don't know. It's ending soon though. I have to focus on my Halloween stories xD**

 **Replies:**

 **Justslaygold: Well, Shawn didn't react that much. :/ Sorry about that. I'll probably put more next chapter.**

 **Guest: Yay, I did a good thing. Next chapter might also be another turn of events. It depends on all of you.**

 **Meganova: Yes, he's back and now Ponyboy is left with a decision. It's totally understandable to not review because of exams. I have mine in a few days and I made no progress to study for them. But anyways, I rather have you focus on your tests than being distracted with fanfiction and reviewing.**

 **Cooking: Yeah, man. Dat ex is back.**

 **Ryuu and Natsu: Yeah, Shawn. I wanted to surprise people with a plot twist. xD Did I surprise you?**


	13. Chapter 13

The smile fell from my lips. "What?" I asked, voice shaking.

"Can we get back together?" Shawn repeated, eyes sharp with determination.

It was like my brain had went numb. I didn't know what to think. My heart was beating like I had just ran a marathon. A pit in my stomach grew as I dug my fingers through my hair. "I don't know, Shawn… I can't just drop Barry like that. We just got together, and I really like him."

Shawn shot a skeptical look. "Do you really?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you really like him or are you using him to get over me?"

"I'm not using him!"

"Then why did you two hook up right after I left?"

"It's been months. I'm in high school."

"Just, at least, think about my offer," Shawn said with a sigh.

I paused. "Fine."

Shawn and I started the walk back to my house again in silence, allowing me to think and question everything. What Shawn had said struck a chord. It was obvious that I still loved Shawn—even more when I found out that I could get back with him—and I knew that dumping Barry for a relationship with someone that I broke up with would make me a jerk. I couldn't just leave Barry.

We got to my house where Darry was standing, frozen, looking down at his feet. It took a moment to realize that time was still stopped. I groaned, and turned to Shawn. "I have to find Barry. I'll think about everything, but don't count on us getting back together," I informed him and turned around to head to Barry's house, hoping he was there. But, when I arrived, his mother opened the door and informed me that he just left. That would leave one possible area.

I walked towards our launching area, each step made my stomach twist. What if, when I see Barry, I wouldn't like him anymore?

When I arrived, Barry was kneeling over our rocket, hands trembling. His eyes were teary as he tried to light the match for out rocket, but failed each time.

"Barry, can we talk?" I slowly asked. He didn't respond, but I knew he was listening. "I'm sorry about what happened with Shawn and I."

"Is there something going on with you two?" Barry finally asked.

"We're broken up. I still remember him as someone that I was close to, and seeing him hurt scared me."

"So there's nothing going on?"

"Nothing." I lied. I kneeled next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, before moving it down his arm and snatched the match. "You do know that time is still frozen, so you can't light this?"

"That's why everything was so quiet…" Barry silently chuckled and I smiled a bit, but that faltered when I remembered Shawn. We needed to unfreeze time, but I guess that it was also a good excuse to find out if I still felt that spark. I leaned in and pecked his lips, resuming time, but the feeling wasn't the same. It felt like I was kissing a stranger. I pulled back, looking down in shame.

"What's wrong?" Barry asked.

"I can't do this." Those words left my mouth before I could completely process my feelings. Barry closed his lips and gave me a hurt, curious expression. "I can't be your boyfriend anymore."

"Why? What did I do?" Barry's expression punched me in the face.

"As cliché as this sounds, it's me, not you. I'm still in love with Shawn.

"Oh…"

"Barry, I'm so sorry. I thought I liked you, but it was just my mind and heart plating tricks on me. They made me believe that being with you would make me forget Shawn. I mean, I still like you… just not in the way that you hoped for. Barry, you deserve someone who truly loves you; someone who's so much better than me. I'm sorry for playing you, but I hope we can still be friends."

Barry looked like he was about to cry, and perhaps he would have if he haven't cried just minutes before. His jaw clenched tightly as he stiffly nodded. "I get it."

"So, may we be friends still?"

"Yeah…"

Barry hugged me and buried his face in my neck. "I'm so sorry… I don't want to continue a relationship on a lie that would hurt both of us."

We separated and I gave his hands a quick squeeze and departed from him. As I was walking back home, our rocket shot in the sky.

For the next few days, I didn't see Shawn nor Barry until I saw Shawn looking at the school. I adjusted my backpack and practically skipped towards him, excitement bubbling. Shawn turned towards me, a huge smile broke out on his lips. I tackled him in a hug and he chuckled.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"I want to get back together with you," I answered. It's been a while since I saw Shawn that happy. His eyes sparkled as he unexpectedly scooped me up in his arms. I yelled out in shock and flailed a bit before grabbing ahold of his neck. Shawn planted a kiss on my lips before a heavy weight pushed down my arms before it was relieved and was replaced with a groan and the loss of lips. I opened my eyes and winced. "I forgot that we switched bodies…"

Sitting on the ground was Shawn (well, him in my body). It took a short while to get used to staring at myself again. "How could you forget something that big?"

I pulled him to his feet, using Shawn's body strength. "I don't think I'll ever get used to looking at myself after kissing you."

Shawn cackled which sounded weird from my lips. "I don't think it's weird. Have you ever heard of the expression, 'Everyone wants to fuck themselves'?"

Rolling my eyes, I pecked Shawn on the lips, switching us back. Eventually, I gave in and laughed. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." We hugged each other close, ignoring the rudimentary stares of passing people. I may or may not have made mistake by getting back together with Shawn. It probably would be better if I was single, because Shawn sure as hell scared me. Right now, I didn't care. What I felt—comfort, love, giddy—erased any doubt.

 **o-o-o**

 **Thank you for reading this all the way through. :D**

 **Replies:**

 **Justslaygold: Yeah, and they have a better understanding than Barry and Ponyboy. Shawn and Ponyboy had been through a lot together.**

 **Blue eyed titan99: Unfortunately, they didn't end up together. Sorry .**

 **Princess Legacy: You got it.**

 **White collar black wolf: Thank you so much. I hope you liked the ending.**

 **Chichi: Haha, how does he get on your nerves? xD**

 **Guest: Shawn in the brawns and Ponyboy is the brains. The perfect package. :)**


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